A power semiconductor module and a method of the previously mentioned kind are known from WO 03/095922 A2. The cooling device has a housing which is covered by a circuit board. An insert of plastic is arranged in the housing. The insert forms on its side which faces the circuit board a plurality of cells each of which has a meander shaped flow path. The cooling agent is conducted through this flow path. Cells at left and right edges of the circuit board are larger than cells in the middle so that the cooling effect of the cooling agent is here not so large.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,388,317 B1 shows a cooling device for a power semiconductor in which the power semiconductor is assembled onto the upper side of a heat conducting plate. The heat conducting plate on its side covers a micro-canal arranged below the power semiconductor in a cooling body. If one uses several power semiconductors, several cooling bodies spaced from one another must be provided on a carrier. If still more power semiconductors are needed, one can arrange several carriers next to one another on a base.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,978,220 shows a further cooling device for a power semiconductor arrangement, in which the power semiconductors are arranged on a housing, which encloses a cooling chamber, through which a cooling agent flows. Below each power semiconductor, heat conducting pins extend into the chamber so that the heat from the power semiconductors can be better transferred to the cooling agent.
Power semiconductors in operation create a certain heat, due to energy losses, which must be led away in order to not thermally overload the power semiconductors. By means of the above discussed procedures, the thermal loading of the power semiconductors can be reduced in sufficient degree that a thermal damage is still only to be seen in infrequent cases, but it has also been established that such power semiconductors modules, in the long run, do not work as reliably as is desired.